Late
by morrigan-hell-yeah
Summary: A Nevermoor fanfiction. Spoilers for Wundersmith. Rated T for swearing. Many angst. Crossposted on AO3 and Wattpad for those who prefer the system over there under morrigan(underscore)hell(underscore)yeah.


Morrigan Crow was late home, and she knew it.

Jupiter's written words from the previous year sounded without permission in her mind: _UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES are you to travel anywhere outside of Wunsoc by yourself. I mean it. I'm trusting you._ He had reinforced this rule the month before, on her thirteenth birthday, for no apparent reason. So Morrigan was definitely breaking the most important rule of the few that Jupiter had given her. But she didn't care, he could go stuff himself for all Morrigan cared.

Morrigan was nearly at the Deucalion anyway, just turning onto Humdinger Avenue. All that had happened so far was that it had started storming- heavily- and a man had asked for her Christmas loyalty. Bit weird, she supposed. But no harm done, so Jupiter wouldn't be mad, right?

She pushed the doors of the Hotel Deucalion open without ceremony, trudging inside grumpily. She was immediately showered with questions from Kedgeree and Martha, who had apparently been waiting anxiously for her. "Really, Miss Morrigan," said Martha in a mixture of half-hearted annoyance and relief as she dried off Morrigan's brolly. "This is the second time you've done this. Your conductor's out of her mind with worry- we'll send somebody to let her know you're safe, I suppose."

Morrigan nodded, a pang of guilt having found its way into her heart even though the first time had been accidental. Had she really done this to sweet, kind Miss Cheery? She made up her mind to apologise to her the next day.

Kedgeree sighed and handed Morrigan a note. "You're needed in Jupiter's office. I don't think he's all that pleased, mind..."

Morrigan nodded again, her quick eyes scanning the note. _If you're there, Morrigan, come up to my office immediately._ She noticed how he hadn't bothered to write a signature, but recognised the messy scrawl. "Okay. Thanks, Martha. Thanks, Kedgeree." And with that, she headed upstairs- only to be immediately tackled on the landing by a certain eyepatched fourteen-year-old. "Morrigan!" he cried breathlessly, and he hugged her tightly.

She pulled away. "Hi, Jack," she said, amused. It was a rare occasion that he was home on a schoolday- Graysmark was apparently having a week-long half-term break. He shook his head. "You were meant to be back two hours ago, Morrigan. Two whole hours. Uncle Jove's panicking, he's really upset. Where have you been?" Jack asked her seriously, placing his hands on her shoulders and staring into her eyes.

Morrigan looked away. "You don't have your patch off," she pointed out. "You're not going to be able to tell. And I'm certainly not going to."

"Alright, you're telling me later. He wants you up there, go on. Quick!" Jack jabbed his thumb up the stairs towards his uncle's office, and she pushed past him, calling a hasty "sorry!" over her shoulder.

* * *

Morrigan pushed Jupiter's office door open- it had been slightly ajar, so it made no sound. She looked at her patron silently, her sadistic side playing in for a few seconds. Jupiter sat there with his head in his hands, shaking like he was sobbing but no sound came out.

Morrigan stared with a combination of fascination and fear. She had seen Jupiter angry, or worried before. But she had never, _ever_ seen him cry, apart from her inauguration day. She approached him quietly- but she only got a couple of steps forward before she trod on a creaky floorboard and he looked up, eyes flashing with relief and tears. "Morrigan!" he cried, just like Jack, standing up and rushing over. He threw his arms around her, bracing her like he never had before. He pulled away slightly, and scanned her quickly. "What happened, Morrigan? Why-" His voice cracked ever so slightly, and he cleared his throat. "Why are you, why are you so late? Oh, we've all been so worried, Mog."

Jupiter gently tugged her over to the couch, and she sat down. Morrigan looked away from his searching gaze which he had fixated upon her, and said quietly, "I'm sorry I was late."

He laughed incredulously. "'_Sorry_'? Morrigan, people are out there looking for you. I had to stop Jack and Fenestra from going as well. I only stayed behind in the hope that you would come back. It's not safe for children out there- yes, Morrigan, you're a child- there are still dangers. Squall could still be out there somewhere. What time did you leave Wunsoc?!"

"Eleven, I think- I- I know, and I'm sorry, I just... I just..."

"You just what?"

"I couldn't stand it anymore," blurted Morrigan, and clamped a hand over her mouth when she realised what she'd said. She looked away again, realising as she did so that she'd started to look at him again.

Jupiter's voice when he next spoke was eerily quiet. Uncharacteristic for him. "What couldn't you stand?"

Morrigan felt tears stinging her eyes, and she brushed them away furiously. "I couldn't stand it. I couldn't stand everybody looking at me like I'm some kind of disease just because I'm a fucking Wundersmith! There! Are you happy now?" She stood up and made to leave, but Jupiter grabbed her arm, pulling her back down. She turned to him. "What?"

He smiled wanly. "Everybody as in who?"

Morrigan rolled her eyes and ticked an invisible list off on her fingers. "Anah, Mahir, Thaddea, Francis, Arch, all my teachers, Murgatroyd, Dearborn, and Heloise fucking Redchurch."

"Morrigan. Language."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You never get mad at Jack when he swears."

"It's different, Jack's older than you."

"Only by, like, a year!"

There was moment of silence, until Morrigan said quietly, "They all call me the Psychosmith. Even Murgatroyd, it's- it's like nobody even knows my name."

Jupiter blinked suddenly, looking at Morrigan while shielding his eyes from what Morrigan knew must be the Wunder she held around herself. "Tone that down, will you, Mog? Wait, so- did you say Murgatroyd calls you... calls you Psychosmith?" He said this last word as if afraid Morrigan would get angry.

Morrigan nodded mournfully, reaching for a full cup of tea on the coffee table. "Mmhm. They all do. Is this mine or yours?" she said, indicating the cup.

"Yours; I drank mine. Look, you know scholastic discrimination is against the faculty rules, right?"

Morrigan scoffed, taking a sip of tea. "Yeah, like Murgatroyd gives a shit. Don't worry, Lam came up with a name for the old bat anyway. It's-"

"Not sure I want to hear that one, Mog." Jupiter laughed quietly and picked up a pastry from a plate on the table, the shock of Morrigan's absence having worn off slightly.

That was one thing Morrigan hadn't expected, anyway. Sweet, kind Lam, of all people, to come up with a rude name for their Scholar Mistress. She would have expected as much from Hawthorne or Cadence, but Lam had caught her off-guard.

Morrigan chuckled. "Cadence nearly called her it to her face."

Jupiter winced and ran a hand through his hair, and Morrigan knew he was still thinking about the Psychosmith situation. "Yeah, that wouldn't have gone well..."

There was silence for a couple of minutes again, only penetrated by small sips of tea from Morrigan. Then Jupiter got bored, and asked tentatively, "Did... did anything in particular happen today?"

Morrigan thought about her answer for a time, then responded with, "Yeah, Heloise threw her stars at me in the hall-"

"What?! Did they hit you? Are you okay, Morrigan?"

Morrigan drew back her hair to reveal a slightly raised red scratch on her left cheek. "Just a bit."

Just a bit was an understatent, Morrigan thought as she zoned out, ignoring Jupiter's frantic rambling about knacks being used outside of lessons. There were marks on her arms and the back of her neck, but she'd never show Jupiter those. She was still rarkably shaken, even after she'd retaliated reasonably well.

She snapped back out of her thoughts and interrupted her patron, "Jupiter."

He stared at her, blue eyes ablaze with worry. "What?"

"I summoned Wunder again. Accidentally."

Jupiter dropped his scone. "You _what_?!"

Morrigan sighed and took a sip of her tea. "I didn't mean to!"

"What did you do with it?" Jupiter danded, trying to calm himself down.

Morrigan felt sick. Not physically, but mentally, at the thought of what she'd done earlier that day. "I accidentally shot it towards Heloise. She jumped out of the way, so all it did was crack the wall a bit, but Dearborn flipped her shit."

"_Language_!"

Morrigan shook her head irritably. "I don't care anymore."

Jupiter stared at her in concern. "Morrigan..."

Morrigan knew what he was about to say. Why was she being like this? Why was she swearing, which she had never done in more than whispers before? Why was she being so resilient, so hard-headed, so... unfeeling?

And as she'd predicted, Jupiter's look of concern morphed into an glaring expression that fell somewhere in between anger, disappointment, and... something else Morrigan couldn't quite place. "Morrigan, why are you being like this?"

Spot on.

Morrigan couldn't tell him why. She couldn't summon the words or the courage to tell Jupiter that they all called her weak and otional after Heloise had nearly broken her _W_ pin. She couldn't tell him how useless and unloved she felt- by everybody. She couldn't tell him how she couldn't, wouldn't show otion.

She couldn't tell him how much it hurt her inside.

Morrigan scowled. "I _have_ to be." She could feel the fury and tension building up inside of her; bubbling and rising like Wunder did when she summoned it.

Jupiter, in fact, seed to be having a similar issue. Morrigan saw his fists clench and unclench, and he looked like he was having trouble controlling himself. Eventually, he said in a forced version of the calm, patient voice that Morrigan had known and loved for two years and counting, "Why do you _have_ to be, Morrigan?"

Morrigan's fingers tingled unexpectedly, and a burst of Wunder shot out of her index finger. She covered it up hastily, barrassed that she couldn't control her own knack. "I just do. You- you wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

Morrigan cursed herself silently. Why had she gotten herself into this mess in the first place? Why hadn't she just waited the couple of hours until Hometrain?

"I said you wouldn't understand." Morrigan's voice grew more high-pitched with every protest she made, and she hated that she couldn't hide her anger. She stamped her foot in frustration.

"I would," Jupiter said, not looking her in the eye. She could tell he would know if he looked at her. Stupid sadist wanted her to tell him herself.

Well, guess what? She didn't care anymore. About this, about anything.

"Jupiter, I _said_ you wouldn't understand and I _meant_ it! You'll never understand! You'll never fucking under_stand_!" Morrigan yelled, tears falling without warning. This time she succeeded in her previous mission to leave the room. He shouted something after her, but she couldn't, or wouldn't, hear th.

She was done.

* * *

Jack sat on his bed, tapping his fingers against his knees anxiously. He could hear raised voices and the occasional swear word from Morrigan- which surprised him, actually, since she used to hate it when Jack swore.

He eyed his cello, out of its case, and had to refrain from snapping the bow in worry. His school probably wouldn't be too pleased with that, he was currently learning a difficult orchestra piece, and they needed all the cellists they could get. Jack thought about practicing, and immediately dismissed the idea. Chesquire sonatas could wait.

He went back to tapping his fingers against his knees.

A foot stamped from downstairs in Jupiter's study, and Jack guessed it was Morrigan. He couldn't imagine Uncle Jove stamping his foot.

A moment of silence passed. And then- "Jupiter... _said_ you wouldn't und...stand and... _meant_ it!... never understand! You'll ne... fucking ...der_stand_!"

Jack opened his door to catch the rest of the conversation. Bits of Morrigan's sentences just then had been filtered out slightly, but he had gotten the gist.

"Morrigan, come _back_ here!" his uncle's voice echoed up from his office. But Morrigan burst through the door, slamming it behind her and racing up the stairs. Jack noticed tears streaming down her face. "Morrigan-" he tried to say, but she ran straight past him and into her room, slamming that door as well. He followed, knocking on her door. "Morrigan! Morrigan, are you okay?"

Jupiter walked up the steps haughtily and moved Jack out of the way. "'Scuse me, Jack. Morrigan-" he turned the doorknob to no avail- "Morrigan, open the door this instant!"

Jack stared at his uncle in fear, never before having seen him speak like this to anyone. Not to Jack. Not to Fenestra. Not to officials. Not to people he hated.

What was it about Morrigan that had made Jupiter talk to her like that?

Jack's uncle made a noise of impatience and drew a small key out from his pocket. He shoved it into the keyhole, turned it, and disappeared into the room. Jack craned his head to try and catch a glimpse of Morrigan, but Jupiter was too fast. "Jack, go and wait for us at the dinner table."

And he closed the door.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Morrigan and Jupiter entered the dining room, a sullen look on the former's face. Jupiter, however, appeared just as cheerful as usual. They ate in silence, and Morrigan went upstairs ten minutes after she sat down. She hadn't eaten anything, so Jupiter instructed Martha to take a tray up.

Later that night when Jack tried to wheedle what had gone on that day out of Morrigan, she wouldn't answer. He didn't take his patch off, mainly because if his friend didn't want him to know, it was probably for a reason. And partly because he would be blinded if he looked at her.

So nobody knew what went on that night. Nobody except Morrigan and Jupiter. Jack strongly suspected that it involved tears and swearing, as that was the Morrigan of today. But Morrigan seed a bit happier after that, so it was alright. Jack felt glad Morrigan was okay, like a light had switched on inside of him. Like he was happier now that she was. Maybe all it took was one person to make another happy. Nevermoor certainly seemed brighter after that day, anyway.

Was it the Wunder that accompanied Morrigan wherever she went, or her lifted spirits?

Jack would never know.


End file.
